Prosecuting International Crimes in Africa - PULP - University of ...

Prosecuting international crimes by the LRA in Uganda 207
with accountability and ensuring that perpetrators do not go unpunished,
the latter is concerned with ensuring restorative justice involving active
participation of the victim, the perpetrator and the community in a process
that aims at the restoration of a harmonious relationship between victim
and perpetrator. 62
Some quarters supported a resort to traditional justice based on the fact
that the majority of the LRA rebels had forcefully been recruited, some as
children, and forced to commit terrible crimes against their own people. 63
Other weaknesses pointed out with retributive justice in the context of the
ICC include the limited scope and reach of this form of justice since it
focuses only on perpetrators of serious international crimes. Thus, justice
of this nature will only ‘scratch the surface of the suffering heaped upon the
local population in a war that has lasted two decades’. 64
3.2 Peace agreements
In spite of the above and several disagreements, negotiations continued.
Although a final agreement was never signed, agreement was reached on
several issues, including a ceasefire, demobilisation, reintegration and
accountability and reconciliation. The most relevant of these agreements
in the context of this chapter is the Agreement on Accountability and
Reconciliation, reached on 29 June 2007. The Preamble to this agreement
indicates consciousness of the parties to the immense pain, suffering,
injury and adverse socio-economic and political impact of the war and the
serious crimes and human rights violations committed. To this end, the
parties commit to preventing impunity and promoting redress in
accordance with the Constitution and international obligations. Express
reference is made to the principle of complementarity, applicable in the
context of the Rome Statute. Further, the Preamble indicates that the
agreement was driven by the need to adopt appropriate justice
mechanisms, including customary processes that would resolve the
conflict while promoting reconciliation.
Substantively, the parties committed themselves to promoting national
legal arrangements consisting of formal and informal institutions and
measures of ensuring justice and reconciliation. 65 In this regard, the parties
reckoned that they believed that a comprehensive, independent and
impartial analysis of the history and manifestations of the conflict,
especially the human rights violations and crimes committed during the
course of the conflict, was an essential ingredient for attaining
62 M Maloney and B Harvey Breaking eggs/re-building societies: Traditional justice as a tool for
transitional Justice in Northern Uganda (2006) 372 Public Policy and Dispute Resolution 4.
63 As above 6.
64 Hoening (n 60 above) 343.
65 Para 2.1 Agreement on Accountability and Reconciliation.